Panzanella Salad

To keep myself from eating the entire loaf of French bread I bought yesterday, I decided I had to plan a meal for tonight that would use it up. That way, I would be dinnerless if I was a piggie and ate it all :)

I decided to go with a fresh, summery panzanella salad with lemon-basil vinaigrette. We had this with some grilled flank steak. Nothing terribly exciting there. Just marinated it with some Mediterannean flavors and grilled it.

Make the vinaigrette first so the flavors can meld as you are prepping the rest of the salad.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add asparagus and cook until just tender, about 2 minutes max. Immediately put asparagus into an ice bath to stop the cooking.

Cut bread into 1″ pieces. I decided to leave about half the crust on, but that’s your call. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the EVOO and the garlic, cooking until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add bread and a pinch of salt. Toss the bread around to coat with the oil and cook until browned, about 6 or 7 minutes (alternatively you could spray/drizzle the bread with the oil and bake in a 300 degree oven for 8-10 minutes). Remove the garlic.

Now, most vinaigrettes recipes call for anywhere from a 1:2 to a 1:4 ratio of vinegar to oil. However, I really love a tangy, acidic vinaigrette so I tend to go for the exact opposite. The added bonus is there is less fat :)

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